


Rosemary or Thyme

by inquisitor_tohru



Series: Original Works [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alchemy, Curses, Gen, Herbology, Humor, Magic, Talking Animals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:40:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25354126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inquisitor_tohru/pseuds/inquisitor_tohru
Summary: It would have been easier if she could have simply continued relying on her ancestral powers. Butapparently,if you found yourself in a bit of a tight spot and used one little forbidden spell, you got cut off from the family.
Relationships: Alyss the Adventurer & Drusilla the Rat, Original Female Character & Original Animal Character
Series: Original Works [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1778560
Comments: 8
Kudos: 9
Collections: Original Works Opportunity 2020





	Rosemary or Thyme

**Author's Note:**

  * For [silveradept](https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveradept/gifts).



Alyss soon discovered she was far better at grinding her teeth than grinding herbs. What should have been a fine powder was all green bumps and lumps and clumps - a whole lot of _umps,_ and not nearly enough _oomph._ So, maybe herbology wasn't her thing either. She could probably rule out alchemy, too. No big deal. There were still plenty of other things she could try.

Of course, it would have been easier if she could have simply continued relying on her ancestral powers. But _apparently,_ if you found yourself in a bit of a tight spot and used one little forbidden spell, you got cut off from the family. What right did a bunch of long-dead folks have to judge her anyway? Maybe she ought to take up _necromancy_ so she could give them a piece of her mind.

On the other hand, skeletons kind of gave her the creeps.

Mediumship was an option, though it wasn't really good for much besides conversation. What Alyss _needed_ was something that would let her breathe underwater as she explored the labyrinthine caves and tunnels the merfolk called home, or imbue her with the superhuman stamina required to conquer an unconquerable mountain. Not raise an undead army or gossip with ghosts about...well, whatever it was that ghosts gossipped about.

There were plenty of other things she could try, but how many of them were actually _useful?_ Elemental magic would have been a great option if its adepts weren't so invested in sealing its secrets away from anyone _they_ deemed unworthy. Because like _hell_ she was going to take a vow of chastity or wear an ugly set of robes.

"Oh, poor Alyss. Fallen down the rabbit hole and can't claw her way back out." She side-eyed Drusilla, her rodent companion.

" _You're_ the one with claws...and a curse." As if to spite the plump brown rat, she grabbed the pestle and began grinding her herbs again. _Loudly._ No...they definitely didn't look (or smell) right. "If you want me to help you, you might think about making yourself _useful_ here." That unconquerable mountain she was so set on conquering _also_ happened to be the key to breaking the curse that kept Drusilla from communicating with her own kind. At present, she could only converse in a couple of human languages, and frequently utilised those skills to remind Alyss of how ridiculous, smelly, and how very dull humans were. Drusilla was definitely her least favourite (and most high maintenance) pet so far.

"I'm a rat, in case you haven't noticed. Ordinarily, I have no need for magic." Alyss watched as she plopped herself down and began gnawing on a sprig of rosemary. Or thyme. She had a hard time remembering which herb was which, and now that she inspected the green _umps_ for the _ump_ teenth time, she was pretty sure she'd used at least one wrong ingredient. "But _plants_ , I do know. By texture, taste, scent. If you tell me their names in your language, I will remember. My memory isn't full of holes like yours. Human brains are so inefficient. Filled with useless knowledge and yet-"

"Yes, yes, I know," she waved off Drusilla's rant, having heard about the superiority of her tiny rat brain more times than she could count. "You were saying? About herbs?" Drusilla's nose and whiskers twitched in a way that Alyss had once considered endearing. _Before_ she could talk. There wasn't much endearing about Drusilla nowadays.

"Ah. If I sweep my whiskers over them, it's easy for me to distinguish between different types. I _could_ also go underground or other hard-to-reach areas to gather small quantities…" Alyss shook her head.

"I am _not_ rewarding you with treats for doing something that's in your own interest." Drusilla did that _thing_ with her eyes and Alyss groaned, annoyed that it still even worked on her. "Okay, fine. Just one." She rummaged around in her satchel, thinking that maybe Drusilla was onto something. Maybe humans _were_ stupid.


End file.
